RV trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Wow, I just realized I haven't updated my blog for a LONG time. Thought I better make an entry. Our good friend, James Dougherty, decided he wanted to do an Ironman Triathlon (2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run). So he entered one in Coeur d'Alene, Idaha. Set for August 21, 2016. They have friends with a lake home about 45 minutes out of CDA that they wanted to stay with. Paula wanted to go and cheer him along on the race. So, I came up with a great idea. Since Annie and the kids were planning on driving there from their lake home in northern Minnesota I figured this would work out. We drove our camper pulling the enclosed trailer and met her in Fargo, ND. We put her Honda Pilot in the trailer and stuffed her 5 kids in the camper. Annie wanted to ride in the Pilot in the trailer. But I decided that was just too much for Paula to take care of all those little rotten Dougherty kids. James had planned to fly to CDA so he wouldn't be worn out from the travel before the big event. We had a great road trip out. We slept in a rest stop in the middle of ND the first night. Next night we slept in the parking lot of a pizza place in Butte, MT. They actually had very good pizza too. And when we got to CDA we had a really nice campsite right there across the Spokane river from downtown. It was about the perfect spot for the triathlon. James met up with us out there and they all went to their friend's place. And Paula and I got some much needed peace and quiet. James did a great job in the tri. We all had a fun time cheering him on from all over the routes. We loaded the Pilot into the trailer and headed back toward MN on Wednesday. James found us a terrible campground outside of Bozeman, MT. But then the next night we had a great site at Mt. Rushmore KOA. We got to see the lighting of the monument. Thomas let out a humongous fart during a quiet time of the ceremony. Pretty audible for about a 20' circle. They got a room in the hotel. The campgrounds was great. Drove through the Black Hills and the Badlands. Really fun to have all the little urchins with us in these great landscapes. Fun to watch them explore such a wild place. I did all the driving so I always had a great seat. Everybody was very helpful keeping me fed and watered. Our last sleep night on the road we found a nice dead end street in Sioux Falls. Quiet and level. So, we covered a bit over 2800 miles. Slept several times with all of us in the rig. Got a bunch of nights in campgrounds. Only big issue was the fridge door coming open and spilling the entire contents onto the floor. Guessing somebody forgot to secure the velcro strap to it before we started down the road.

So, it was a long trip but the time just flew by. So happy to be able to do this with our great friends. I just wish we could have spent more time and relaxed a bit more. Maybe next time.